“The NMAA is preparing for the annual Congreso de las Acequias as we celebrate another growing season and the bountiful late summer rains. The Congreso is the only statewide gathering of acequia leaders where we share knowledge and create strategies for protecting our precious acequias and the water that flows through them. Our theme this year is Nuestra Agua, Nuestro Futuro: Acequias Rising. Please join us as we celebrate our traditions, make plans for our collective future, and work together to keep acequias flowing and our communities strong!

This year, the Congreso de las Acequias will take place on Saturday, November 19th at the Sagebrush Inn and Suites in Taos, NM from 9:00am to 5:00pm. $25 registration fee at the door, or take advantage of our Early-bird registration rate and pay $20 until Nov 14th!

The Congreso de las Acequias is the state-wide governing body of the NMAA, comprised of regional delegates from across the state. The annual meeting is held in the fall of each year to pass resolutions that guide the strategic direction of the NMAA, and to elect the eleven-member Concilio. Every year, we’re drawing in more and more folks who are dedicated to the cause. The NMAA is working to continue building the movement throughout the state, protecting our land and water resources for future generations of acequia farmers and ranchers. Click here to view the 2015 resolutions“

]]>http://www.agrariantrust.org/uncategorized/congreso-de-las-acequias/feed/0Land Access for Next Generation Farmershttp://www.agrariantrust.org/home-page-statement/land-access-for-next-generation-farmers/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=land-access-for-next-generation-farmers
http://www.agrariantrust.org/home-page-statement/land-access-for-next-generation-farmers/#commentsMon, 09 Mar 2015 22:34:58 +0000http://108.166.83.38/agtrust_dev/wordpress/?p=4187Read More]]> Agrarian Trust’s mission is to support land access for next generation farmers.

The Context

In the next two decades, it is predicted that 400 million acres of U.S. farmland will change hands. What happens to that land when it reaches the market is crucial to the future of our food system, and current trends point in the wrong direction. The price of land in the US has skyrocketed in the past decade, driven by an unregulated speculative market-place, international investment, a distorted subsidy system, and by unrestrained development pressure. Our nation’s land policy pretends its 1840, and that we have space enough and land enough to waste this common resource.

In this crucial moment of land transition, a new generation of young farmers has emerged. These willing workers, land stewards and community farm entrepreneurs are already growing a powerful local food economy around the country. The demand for organic food is strong and growing, and with a changing climate, the urgency for restoration, ecological stewardship and conservation is becoming more evident. Yet— the majority of young farmers struggle with land access, affordability and tenure. The price of farmland is not justified by the profitability of the farming business, stacking the odds against today’s incoming agrarians.

The Vision

We need to chart the way forward. We need to hold our precious farmland in trust for its best use— sustainable food production and ecological stewardship. We must to help the incoming organic leadership build on the legacy of our organic elders, many who have been farming for more than 30 years— and keep that organic land in production. We need to support the stakeholders engaged in complex land succession, with all the accounting, estate-planning, retirement-planning and legal and technical assistance that is necessary. We need a national conversation that leads to action, and traction for sustainable farming at the foundation of a new, more just economy. Finally, we need policy reform to strengthen democratic ownership and control of our nation’s farmland. We all have allegiance to the land that feeds us, we all share responsibility for our fate on that land.

About Agrarian Trust

Agrarian Trust was founded in 2013 as a project of the Schumacher Center for New Economics and Greenhorns, and is now an independent 501c3 organization based in California. Agrarian Trust proposes a set of actions which contribute to the solution to the “Land question” our country faces.